Educational television in school and Flemish preadolescents’ gender attitudes and beliefs: An experimental study

ABSTRACT

Scholars have recently begun to explore the potential of educational media featuring counter-stereotypes in changing gender attitudes and beliefs, but so far experimental studies simulating interventions are lacking and preadolescents are understudied as target group. Further exploration of this research field is highly needed. In this mixed-design experimental study among 271 preadolescents (M_age = 10.34, SD = .77), we therefore examine the impact of watching and discussing an educational television program containing diverse and counter-stereotypical gender images in a classroom setting on preadolescents’ gender attitudes and beliefs. Findings indicated that exposure to the program affects gender essentialism and acceptance of and willingness to affiliate with gender-nonconforming peers. However, after-exposure discussions in a classroom setting did not yield stronger results, nor did gender identity constructs moderate the effect. This study emphasizes the effectiveness of educational television in influencing components of gender attitudes and beliefs, but also suggests that a classroom setting may not be the most effective context for discussing such content with the goal of altering gender attitudes and beliefs.

Impact Summary

Prior State of Knowledge

Counter-stereotypical media may provide a counterweight to gendered expectations by offering liberal gender notions. Researchers have examined the potential of educational television featuring counter-stereotypes, however, without exploring effects through a pretest/posttest design or without considering groups older than young children.

Novel Contributions

This mixed-design experimental study examined the impact of watching and discussing an educational television program on gender in class. Findings emphasized its effectiveness in changing components of preadolescents’ gender attitudes and beliefs, but after-exposure discussions did not generate stronger results.

Practical Implications

Results suggest that mere exposure to educational television may have a more substantial influence than previously assumed. A classroom setting may not be the most effective context for discussing such content with the aim of altering gender attitudes and beliefs.

KEYWORDS:

• Educational television
• gender attitudes and beliefs
• class discussion
• preadolescents
• mixed-design experimental study

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank Prof. Dr. Steven Eggermont for his insightful comments on the paper. The author would like to thank Miss Arianne Caron and the bachelor students for their assistance in collecting the data used in this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The dataset analyzed during the current study is available on Mendeley Data, https://doi.org/10.17632/ym23p7mnf5.1

Ethical approval and informed consent

This study was approved by the Social and Societal Ethics Committee of KU Leuven. The approval number is G-2021–4350. Informed consent was obtained from all involved parties.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Helene Laporte

Helene Laporte is a doctoral researcher at the School for Mass Communication Research (KU Leuven, Belgium). Currently, the core subject of her research is exploring the effects of media exposure on gender and sexual attitudes and behaviors.